History Of Poker Play - Stud Poker, Draw, Texas & Omaha Poker
It is generally said that the Chinese invented playing cards and indeed it is probably in China that the game which was wanted to become poker first evolved. The idea of having cards of a certain value or rank along with the concept of bluffing will certainly have originated in the long and distant past although it is known that the German game 'Pochspiel' was around in the 15th century and this did apparently incorporate betting, ranked hands and bluffing.
In Spain in the 16th century, a game was played which went by the name of 'Primero' and it is believed by many others that this game is where modern Poker originated - one of the main reasons for this being that Primero involved three hidden cards being dealt to each player followed by bluff and counter bluff.
During the 18th century, the French settlers in Canada played a game called 'Poque' which eventually migrated into the northern states of America.
In the heyday of the Wild West, most towns had a saloon with card games often being played secretively in back rooms and during the American civil war, games closely resembling Poker were widely played by soldiers and civilians alike. First came Stud Poker where you could only bet on the cards that you were personally dealt and then this developed into a hybrid game where you could exchange cards for new ones and this was known as Draw Poker. Later, modern variations began to feature common, shared or community cards are these games would develop into Texas Hold Em (Texas Poker) and Omaha Poker. Once poker had become well established in the American South, it quickly developed with players borrowing elements from earlier games such as the ante, raising before the draw, the actual draw itself, the freezeout, straights, flushes and bluffing.
Generally speaking, Stud Poker was considered to be a game of sheer luck and it was the more skilful game of Draw Poker which eventually led to the legalisation of gambling in the state of Nevada in the early 1930s this really started the ball rolling in terms of the commercialisation and popularity of poker.
In the 20th century credit for the extraordinary explosion in the popularity of poker must go firstly to the television executive who first had the idea of televising poker and giving the viewer a 'sneak peek' from beneath the table of each of the hands of the players in the game. Possibly the first great example of this was' Late Night Poker' which was made by a television company based in the United Kingdom.
Most recently, the advent of computer based online poker has massively increased the number of players throughout the world. Today, of all the variations of the game, 'No-limit Texas Hold Em' which many players often refer to as ' the Cadillac of Poker' must be considered to be the most popular and frequently played Poker game.
